If you should have any more hats in the pipeline for the UK appeal, please send them to the above address asap - many thanks.

Hi Folks

The campaign has now officially ended, with Brits knitting some 550,000 hats!!! - way over the half-million Save the Children target.

A staggering 50,000 messages, urging government action on global child poverty, will be also heading to Downing Street in November. (Watch this space)

Dr Dorjee, who works for Save the Children in Tibet, said “We rarely put hats on babies. This … has been like that for generations and is responsible for many preventable child deaths. I believe the hats will save many lives.”
Further details here:http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/5072.htm

Thank you everyone who has taken part and a HUGE THANKS to this site, without whom .....

Best Wishes
Ellie

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October Update

UK knitters have made a staggering 460,000 hats since April but Save the Children are hoping to hit the half million target.

The number of knitters joining the campaign has jumped from 25,000 last month to 40,000, so maybe there's still a chance to achieve the 500,000. Although the campaign ends on 21 October that still leaves time to knit and post one more little hat.

Recent shipments are: 30,000 to Bangladesh, 25,000 Liberia,
a massive 80,000 to Brazil and the latest delivery is a further 50,000 hats to Mongolia.

One enterprising lady, who's a volunteer in a Cornwall charity shop, challenged a group of Mothers' Union knitters to turn out 1,000 - they clicked and clacked so much that a total 1,600 little hats were made.

There's a link here with a wonderful photo of those hats filling the group's church in Newquay, plus all the latest information.

The monstrous job of collating the hat labels is now underway and arrangements are being made to present a petition to Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, at the end of the year.

" .....your hats have helped save the lives of hundreds of thousands of newborn babies. Now let’s hope that your voice will help to save millions more. We call on the UK Government to do everything they can to dramatically reduce the numbers of children dying each year. Our call is so much stronger because it’s joined by your voice." Save the Children - October 08

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I've left the link below to the Sun Newspaper appeal because although 350,000 is a huge number of hats, more knitters are still needed - about 25,000 to reach the target Save the Children set for the number of people becoming involved.

There are photos below of babies in Sierra Leone, which has the worst child mortality rate in the world.

It would be fantastic if you could persuade just one person, who is capable of holding two sticks and a ball of yarn, to get cracking and knock out a hat - it doesn't take very long to make - even someone who thought knitting needles were some weird sort of chopstick could get the hang of it.

Hat labels can be printed in black/white and if you are donating a number of hats, please put your name on one label and if possible, please ask friends to let them add their names to your hats.

Example - you've knitted 6 hats and are sending them in one parcel.

If your friends agree to your adding their name to the appeal, please put their name on a label and attach it to a hat.
The idea is to get as many different names as possible because the labels are acting as signatures on a petition form.

When you've used up your stock of friends/family, pop the unlabelled hats into your package for posting.

The charity hasn't said this but please ask your friends for permission before using their name and their address and do, please, double check with them about giving out their email address.

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Hi

I was watching the Paul O'Grady show yesterday when he put out an appeal for knitters - says he's learning to knit himself (a likely story! - he'll get Buster to do it).

Save the Children need knitted hats for newborn babies in Tibet, Kenya and South Africa.

The hats can be knitted in any colour you like, except white please (it's a colour that can symbolise death in some African and Asian countries) and can be sent direct to Save the Children at their London address given with the pattern.

Update

Save the Children are now asking people to put up posters for this project so that more knitters get involved.

I think it would be great to know how many KH-ers make these little hats - so please pop your name on this thread when you've sent off your hat - maybe take a photograph as well. I'd love to see what everyone's made.

Thanks for posting this .
I will do some and send them off inbetween other projects. It is for such a good cause . Poor things need so much and i know that a hat or two will not make a massive difference but if lots of people send then i am sure it will help these poor children greatly .
Thank you for the Link Ellie .

Thanks very much for your kind help with this project Rita - you're right - it might not seem there's much difference to be made knitting one or two hats but one or two hats can quickly turn into ... 102, 1002 ..... when people chip in.

I'm contacting Save the Children to see if they have distribution centres in the Cape Province of South Africa, where the weather is bitterly cold during the winter.

It's also damn cold from April to August in Johannesburg - 6,000ft above sea-level.